147 horizontal versus vertical well performance in a heterogeneous clastic–evaporite system and to assess how geologic variability influences drilling feasibility and brine production efficiency. As such, it represents a foundational first step toward addressing the broader technical challenges of drilling and production optimization in salar settings, with additional refinements planned as part of our ongoing work. DRILLING AND MECHANICAL FEASIBILITY STUDY Because horizontal wells in salars remain relatively new and lack extensive operational precedent, geomechanical and drilling engineering analysis are essential to determine whether proposed well designs, lateral lengths, and completion strategies can be executed safely and consistently across different salar settings. The major challenges of drilling horizontal wells in salars are related to the shallow TVD (80 to 100 m TVD) of the reservoir target and the soft nature of the rock. The shallow TVD and the soft nature of the rock limit the build rate, with a dogleg higher than 10°/30 m significantly increasing the risk of completion (screen) deployment failure. To overcome these challenges the horizontal wells will combine technologies from the lithium brine industry, oil and gas industry (extended-reach drilling) (ERD), and the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and prioritize the use of locally available equipment, materials, and services in Argentina The well-designed engineering combines the construction of a mechanical earth model (MEM) and a standard drilling engineering analysis. A MEM is a numerical representation of the state of stresses, pore pressure and rock mechanical properties and contains all the relevant geomechanics information (Plumb et al., 2000). The MEM estimates the safe drilling Mud Weight to avoid wellbore collapse and losses. The drilling engineering analysis focus on evaluating the torque, drag, buckling, hydraulics, hole cleaning, ECD, and surge and swab effects associated with drilling, tripping, and casing/liner installation. The objective of the study is to determine whether the wells can be drilled, cased, and cemented within the mechanical and hydraulic limits of the selected rig, tubulars, and anticipated subsurface conditions. DYNAMIC SIMULATIONS DLE production and reinjection scenarios will be dynamically simulated for two development configurations: (i) multiple vertical wells (ii) multiple horizontal wells The dynamic simulation results for scenarios 1 and 2 above were both derived using the static model described in the Model Building section. The static model pore volume was initialized using a constant 500 mg/l lithium concentration together with a 300,000 mg/l salinity enumerated throughout its entirety. The surface temperature at the topmost static model layer – representative of the salar surface - was set at 10°C with a 4.0°C / 100-meter temperature gradient. This surface temperature and subsurface temperature gradient are common to those encountered at high elevations. From the surface temperature, surface pressure, subsurface
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